Monday, December 22, 2014

Results from the Arctic Report Card

NOAA has released the 2014 update to the Arctic Report Card. What it reveals is mostly more of what we have been seeing. The Arctic region is warming at twice the rate of anywhere else in the world, meaning the Arctic region is really bearing the brunt of global warming and climate change. Here are some highlights (excerpted from the original report with hyperlinks included):

The tundra is "browning" as the length of the growing season is decreasing in Eurasia, but maximum tundra greenness and biomass are increasing across the Arctic.

On the Greenland ice sheet nearly 40% of the surface experienced melting conditions in summer 2014 and the albedo (reflectivity) reached a new record low value in August.

The principle editor of the annual report card stated, “The impacts of the persistent warming trend of over 30 years remain clearly evident in the land and ocean environments, and these impacts are influencing the Arctic marine and terrestrial ecosystems.”

A study by the University of Eastern Finland and the Finnish Meteorological Institute also showed Finland is warming at twice the average planetary rate and Finland has warmed by over 2 degrees Celsius in the last 166 years.

How long will it take for someone to claim there is no change in the Arctic environment or it has fully recovered? I am reminded of the quote of E.M. Butler,

Humanity tends to believe in the teeth of the evidence, or disbelieve in spite of the evidence, but never believes because of the evidence.